Dysfunctional

In this episode of Dysfunctional, I’m joined by relationship recovery coach Jo Westwood for a deep, honest conversation about toxic relationships, codependency, and what real self-worth actually sounds like in practice. We talk about love bombing and how to spot it early, the moment “the switch” happens after commitment, and why being nice, polite, or endlessly understanding can quietly turn into...

Alex Williams was eight years old when his mum was murdered by his stepfather. In this episode, Alex shares what it’s really like to grow up after extreme trauma, how it shaped his nervous system, identity, and relationships, and why “healing” is often misunderstood. Alex is an NHS mental health practitioner with over 20 years of experience and a suicide and self-harm prevention trainer. He brings...

Trauma doesn’t just live in your head. It can shut down your voice too. Vocal coach Claire Delaney joins me to talk C-PTSD, nervous system survival, toxic industry culture, and finding your voice again. " Claire is a vocal coach who works with singers and actors whose voices have to hold up under real-world pressure. She’s coached performers across the West End, Broadway, and the National Theatre,...

In this episode I’m joined by Jared Shurin, a strategic communications specialist who works in counter extremism, violent radicalisation, misinformation, and social cohesion. We dig into the psychology of people who reach the point of extreme violence, why it often starts with the loss of trust, hope and faith, and how communication can pull people back from the edge. We talk about: How people bec...

What if those moments where you’re convinced you’re a horrible person who “shouldn’t even be here” aren’t proof that you’re broken… but that you’re in what my guest calls a shame storm? In this episode I’m joined by Melinda Delisle, MS LCCE – clinical nutritionist, former childbirth educator, and someone who has spent years navigating intense emotional dysregulation herself. We talk honestly about...

Children with a parent in prison are some of the most invisible kids in the country. In this episode, I sit down with Sarah (founder of charity Children Heard and Seen) and Felix (communications officer) to talk about what really happens to those children when a parent goes to prison, and why nobody is officially keeping track of them. We talk about: How Children Heard and Seen supports kids in th...

Unbelievably, it has been 1 year since Dysfunctional began so I take a look back over the highs and lows Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Josh talks about: Why the phrase “toxic person” makes some people more uncomfortable than abuse itself The difference between “people doing toxic things” and people who are mostly harmful How spiritual bypassing and “it’s all trauma” language can erase accountability Why victims get to choose the language for what happened to them Empathy with no boundaries and why it’s self-destru...

Maike is the author of The Confession: A Journey to Acceptance, her memoir of growing up with a father with undiagnosed mental health issues who went on to take his own life. She is a lived experience speaker and volunteer for Survivors of Bereavement by suicide When Maike Mullenders was eleven years old, her dad sat her down and told her he was going to end his life — and made her say goodbye. He...

We call it “mental health,” but what if the real diagnosis is a sick system? Wellness anthropologist Aurora Leigh joins Josh to argue that disconnection — not individual defect — sits under our crises of addiction, anxiety, and depression. We dig into stoicism as emotional shutdown, the trap of pathologizing pain, and how somatic, community-based healing outperforms label-and-medicate approaches....

This episode includes candid references to suicide, depression and self-harm. It’s just been World Mental Health Day. I’m asking a hard question with no easy answers. Is the mental health conversation helping… or are there places it’s making us worse? I talk about the tension between compassion and consequence. The risk of romanticising suffering when public figures die. How awareness can accident...

In this solo episode of Dysfunctional, Josh asks a raw question: Is the world actually worse, or are we just being fed constant content that keeps us triggered? As a highly sensitive person, Josh reflects on how algorithms exploit empathy, why stress has become a hidden addiction, and how our compassion is being stretched to breaking point. He dives into the danger of compassion fatigue, the blurr...

Old friends. Real talk. A mini 115 Miles reunion. Hasan Khair joins me to unpack why work feels like a moving target and what to do when the ladder you were climbing gets ripped from the wall. We get into how school trained us for compliance, how hyper capitalism rewards harm, and why AI is speeding up a reckoning in every industry. This is not doom. It is a plan. We get practical about midlife pi...

Lauren Smallcomb grew up the “golden child” at home and in church. When compassion widened and questions came, the role cracked. We get into: Golden child vs scapegoat dynamics and why families swap those seats Conditional love, estrangement, and the pressure to “get back in line” High control religion, missions in Thailand, and leaving the system The body keeping the score: hives, chronic symptom...

What if everything you’ve been told about mental illness… isn’t true? In this raw and uncompromising episode of Dysfunctional, I sit down with psychologist and best-selling author Dr. Jessica Taylor to tear apart the myths and corruption within psychiatry and the wider mental health industry. We talk about: 👉Why so many psychiatric “truths” are based on weak science (or none at all) 👉How labels...

In this episode of Dysfunctional, Josh sits down with Debra Paynter — business manager, single parent, and advocate — for a raw conversation about raising her son, Teddy, who is autistic and has a learning disability. They explore: Why SEND families are so often failed by schools, local authorities, and society The difference between a tantrum and a meltdown, and what public judgement really feels...

In this raw and unfiltered conversation, Josh sits down with Dr. Sherrie Campbell — psychologist, author, and unapologetic disruptor in the toxic family space — ahead of their joint  Come Home to Yourself  event in Los Angeles on  October 4th . What starts as an excited chat about the event quickly dives deep into some of the most taboo and misunderstood truths about healing from fa...

In this episode of  Dysfunctional , I’m joined by therapist and childhood trauma expert  Patrick Teahan  for a raw and powerful conversation about healing from toxic family systems. We explore: Why estrangement can be necessary for healing — and the grief that follows How toxic parents keep control through subtle emotional tactics The long-term impact of growing up in dysfunctional...

What if the same coercive control you grew up with in your family is playing out on a societal scale—and no one’s supposed to name it? In this unapologetically raw episode, I’m joined by political punk artist Hyphen to call out the hidden systems most people are too afraid to touch. We unpack classism, manufactured consent, and how we’ve all been programmed to blame individuals instead of broken s...

In this raw and emotional episode, I sit down with Lulu and Georgina—two sisters who grew up in the chaos of having a father in prison. What starts as a conversation about parental imprisonment unfolds into a powerful exploration of shame, silence, systemic failure, and the unbreakable bond between siblings who carried each other through the storm. We talk about what it’s really like for the child...

In this bold and unfiltered episode, I’m joined by Christian John — a truth-teller who walked away from a toxic family system and now uses his platform to speak the things most people are too afraid to say out loud. Together we explore: What estrangement really means — and why it’s often an act of survival How narcissistic abuse in families mirrors the dysfunction of society The performative trap...

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of childhood sexual abuse, religious trauma, suicide attempts, and domestic violence. Please listen with care. In this powerful episode of Dysfunctional, Karinne shares her story of surviving a childhood shaped by the Jehovah’s Witnesses — a group she now calls a cult — and parents who were both abusive and narcissistic. Kicked out at 16 after bei...

Most people think they’re broken. Most people think dysregulation is a problem. Most people think the answer is to regulate, reframe, or reset. But what if all of that is just another distraction? Another way to bypass what actually needs to be felt? This episode is a full-bodied dismantling of the healing and wellness world as we know it — with the brilliant Sam Miller, who teaches Mind-Body Reco...

Today, I’m joined by the brilliant Dr. Genevieve von Lob – clinical psychologist, conscious parenting coach, and author of Five Deep Breaths: The Power of Mindful Parenting. Genevieve is a powerful voice for highly sensitive people (HSPs), and she's on a mission to create healing spaces for parents and children who’ve never felt like they fit the mould. In this raw and deeply validating conversati...

Josh is joined by IFS coach Kevin O’Neill — the man who guided him through 10 transformational sessions of Internal Family Systems work. Together, they explore what it really means to stop fighting your inner world and start leading from your Self. Josh shares the breakthrough that changed everything: realizing he was still judging himself through the lens of who he was at 22. They dive into shame...